The technology relates to a vehicle exterior environment recognition apparatus that performs a light-distribution control of headlamps, on the basis of an environment outside a vehicle, i.e., a vehicle exterior environment.
A technique has been known in which a three-dimensional object, such as a preceding vehicle located ahead of an own vehicle, is detected to perform a control that avoids collision with the preceding vehicle (i.e., a collision avoidance control) or to perform a control that keeps an inter-vehicular distance between the own vehicle and the preceding vehicle to a safe distance (i.e., a cruise control). For example, reference is made to Japanese Patent No. 3349060.
Further, with the increasing adoption of an auto light function for safe traveling at night, a technique has been developed in which brightness of a surrounding environment is determined on the basis of exposure information obtained from a monitor sensor and a result of the determination is utilized for the auto light function. For example, reference is made to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. H11-187390. The auto light function turns on headlamps automatically when brightness outside the vehicle becomes insufficient. A technique has been also developed in which a light-distribution control of the headlamps is performed on the basis of tail lamps of the preceding vehicle, as disclosed in JP-A No. 2013-209035.